Gold Rush Miner, 1849 This prospector was one of some 80,000 who arrived in northeast California in 1849 after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill. Photographed fully equipped with the tools of his trade––pickax, hoe, and pan—he, like other miners, was capable of digging out only surface gold. Armed with two pistols, the prospector in this photograph also suggests the dangers miners faced. Private Collection/Peter Newark American Pictures/The Bridgeman Art Library